Knowledge of rules and discipline

[…]Rules are simply to protect inept flyers from themselves
The logic here is that regulations are designed for the lowest common denominator, so a superior airman can violate them and still remain safe. This rationalization is partially true, in that regulations must be designed to protect all flyers, the skilled as well as the marginally proficient. That makes this excuse one of the most persuasive. The flaw in the logic is that aviation must operate under a mindset of assumed compliance if the system is to work. Just like our highway system, if someone consistently rolls through stop signs or dashes under yellow lights at high speed, it is only a matter of time until someone who is following the rules gets hurt by the violator. Because no single aviator owns the sky, we share a moral responsibility to follow establish guidelines, regardless of our skill or proficiency.

This business is overregulated. Pilots did this for decades before the government stepped in
The first half of this statement is sure to incite heated debate in many sectors of the aviation industry, but the performance capabilities, complexity, and sheer number of the aircraft operating today mandate a certain level of regulation. The depth and rationale for all of the existing regulations may appear unnecessary to individual operators from the point of view of their own aircraft and flying patterns. However, when you step back and look at the big picture of aviation where commercial jets, general aviation and military supersonic fighters all share the same sky, the need for regulatory oversight becomes readily apparent.

I can’t push the envelope and really improve if I stay within the rules
There are many flyers who feel that they are developmentally constrained by the existing regulatory or organizational environment. Somehow they feel that they must practice outside of existing guidelines to become their best. Most high-risk maneuvers require instructor supervision or special-use airspace to perform. Nearly all safety regulations are based upon lessons which have been paid for in blood by those who attempted what you may be contemplating. Aviators who feel the need to “push the envelope” to improve are well advised to adhere to regulatory guidelines for doing so. Pushing a personal or aircraft envelope can rapidly lead to exiting it, which is frightening at best, and potentially fatal if the dice roll the wrong way.
Excellence in aviation demands regulatory discipline, while at the same time providing a multitude of opportunities to ignore it. In 1704 Joseph Addison said that “self-discipline is that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another” He wasn’t a pilot but he had the makings of one. He understood that true discipline means doing the right thing even when no one is watching! Regarding aviation regulations, doing the right thing has three parts:

When combined, these elements define regulatory discipline. Keep in mind that when we deviate from the rules of flight unnecessarily and get away with it, we are setting ourselves up for greater problems in the future.

“Pardon one offense, and you encourage the commission of many”. Publilius Sirio